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Title: The Usborne Book of World History (Guided Discovery Program) by Jenny Tyler, Gee Robyn, Anne Millard ISBN: 0-86020-959-8 Publisher: E D C Publications Pub. Date: July, 1986 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3.52 (21 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: A Sesame-Street approach to history
Comment: I usually love Usborne books and our family owns many of them. But The Usborne Book of World History has left me disappointed.

The title page reads, "This book is an introduction to world history from the first civilisations to the early 20th century... This book does not attempt to be a comprehensive account... A vast amount of detail has been omitted..."

This is true. What remains is a very sparse overview of world history, presented in tiny two-or-three sentence snippets, interspersed among a plethora of colorful and often confusing images covering each and every page.

To me, as a homeschool teacher, this is disconcerting. This type of presentation would seem to stifle the student's need to develop concentration and focus as they study history. Any child able to read this book (which is written at (at least) a 3rd-grade level) should NOT be learning history in "tidbits" like this. He or she should be making connections-- between the invention of the printing press and the spread of Protestantism or the sudden surge in exploration of far-away lands, for example. This book simply doesn't provide those connections.

For that reason, I call it a "Sesame-Street approach". Too many small, attention-grabbing images and too little "meat". It seems more like entertainment than education to me. I would have preferred that the authors spend less time on the graphic images and more time developing a coherent continuum of history that a young child could follow.

Rating: 4
Summary: The Usbourne Book of World History (Guided Discovery Program
Comment: I purchased this book on the recommendation of Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer, authors of "The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home." I am using it as the basic history text for my 1st and 2nd grader covering the beginnings of civilization all the way to the beginning of the 1900's.

The book is well organized into 1-2 page spreads that cover a brief time period or subject relating to a time period, which makes nice divisions for daily or weekly history lessons. For larger subject areas such as the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations, there are several 2-page spreads covering more detailed areas of life and culture. The book begins with a 2-page spread called "Digging up History" then continues with early settlers, earliest cities, then major civilizations and empires. The page layouts are "Usbourne style," meaning there are many illustrations per page with captions about a paragraph long accompanying them. The illustrations are well done in that they give a good idea of what life was probably like during each time of history.

Each spread usually has a caption entitled "How We Know," which tells specific archeological evidences for the specific cultures. There are also small time charts on several spreads giving key dates for that specific culture. There are two large time charts in the book, the first covers First Civilizations to the Fall of Rome, the second continues on from there to 1914. Each chart covers 9 major geographical areas and gives a basic overview of what was happening in each.

This book is an excellent general overview. It is a good starting point, but for a more in-depth study needs to be supplemented with additional books that go into more detail.

Rating: 5
Summary: Good Introduction to History
Comment: I use this book to homeschool my daughter, and I've found it to be a good introduction to history for young children. It's not the only resource you will need, but it provides a good framework.

It does jump around a bit, because of the commitment to chronological presentation of *world* history. It's difficult to get the right mix on this, because one wants to see the continuous development of a particular region, but one also wants to see events in the greater context of World history. If the mix given in the book doesn't suit, though, it's possible to simply skip over parts and come back to them later. We use the book to provide a frame of reference, and a jumping off place for further study. In that respect, I think this book is better organized than The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. The latter has far more text, but, in my opinion, it's too dense for young children.

Some reviewers have mentioned the nudity in the pictures. I'm not sure what to make of that. Presumably they don't allow their children to view works of art that contain nudity either, since the Usborne nudity is far less graphic than a classical or renaissance statue. I don't know what harm a child could suffer from viewing Michelangelo's David, or Botticelli's Birth of Venus, though. The pictures in the Usborne book are harmless.

Other reviewers have claimed that there are inaccuracies in the Usborne book, particularly in how the catholic church is portrayed. I've looked at the examples that they've provided, and don't find them convincing. For example, one mentions the conflict between Pope Gregory VII and the Emperor, Henry IV. The claim that the pope made Henry stand in the snow for three days is one that I've seen in adult history texts. To call it "voluntary" penance is stretching things a bit, since Henry had been excommunicated, was in danger of losing his crown, and later reverted to his original opinion.

It's also claimed that the text doesn't present both sides of the Protestant/Catholic wars equally. Yet, on p.135 it says, "priests on both sides were tortured and even hanged. Both Protestants and Catholics believed they were saving their opponents from hell by doing this."

Another objection concerned the book's statement that "people decided [Joan of Arc] was a saint." There's nothing false about that statement. Of course, a saint must be cannonized by the church, but the pope doesn't make someone a saint out of the blue. Her sainthood was acclaimed by the people first, and then confirmed by the pope. It seems trivial to take issue with this.

I could go on about the other alleged inaccuracies, but I will just urge people to take these claims with a grain of salt. Read through all of the reviews of this book, and make your own decision.

The book is sketchy on detail, but that's to be expected. It's aimed at elementary school age children, it is heavily illustrated and it is wide-ranging. It skims the surface of history, and the parent/teacher is expected to provide greater detail through other sources. The book contains a list of additional resources on the inside of the back cover. If you use the book in that manner, it's a valuable resource. There are few texts that fill the niche of teaching history to children in the 6-10 age group, and none that I know of do it as well as Usborne.